Well we strategically stayed in Franklin and not Nashville because it was only a 50 mile drive to Mammoth Cave and the tour I wanted us to take, Frozen Niagra, started at 9:30. Well I got up at 6:15 and took a shower. The plan was to leave at 7:45 and get there with plenty of time to spare since you couldn't make reservations for this tour. Well at 6:45 I looked at my phone and thought, why does my phone think we're in the eastern time zone? We checked last night and know we're not. Oops! Daylight Savings Time!
Now we're in a mad scramble and I am freaking out. We have to finish getting ready, load up the car, eat breakfast, drive for an hour, buy tickets, and start a tour in exactly 1.75 hours. Then to make matters worse, the exit to take to get to the park was closed due to road construction.
We just barely make it after entering through another entrance (we got to see Dino World on the way). Nick runs in and gets us tickets and we have about 3 minutes to spare. Whew.
We are introduced to Ranger Barb who appears to be an old hippie who smoked all of the intonation and enthusiasm out of her voice. We are taught about White Nose Syndrome which is killing bats (tragic) and are asked if the shoes we are wearing have been in any cave in the last six years. We all say no, but I'm almost positive I wore the same tennis shoes to Carlsbad last year.
Ranger Barb asks if anyone has any questions and Ryan immediately asked a question. We can't remember what it was but it took us by surprise that she had that kind of confidence. Well that sets Grant off on a question asking competition. We get on the bus to start the tour and he asks, "will the bats be protected"? Then he raises his had a second time and says, "I can't remember what I was going to say."
The tour is short (about an hour) and we learn a little bit of how the cave was formed, who found it, etc. Ranger Barb turns the lights out for a bit and Ryan gets scared. As we're leaving and are back on the bus, Grant follows up with, "Why is there no hot lava in the crave?" Good grief. We get off the bus but have to walk over special mats that clean our shoes so that we can all save the bats.
We stayed there from 1 to 4. Grant was upset about half the time but despite his bad mood, we had fun. We saw porcupines, a red panda, the coolest, poisonous, brightly colored frogs, meerkats, etc.
We left at 4 and drove to our second Holiday Inn Express of the trip, right by the Grand Ole Opry House. We checked in and immediately went to the pool. This one didn't have a hot tup but it was very pretty, surrounded by windows. Grant stayed on the steps and talked to anyone who would listen, explaining to them all that he was four. Ryan made another friend and they did cannonballs. Ryan was the ringleader in the pool and came up with all sorts of mini competitions.
We went to dinner next to the hotel at a very good restaurant called Caney Fork River (I think). Grant was in another mood and when we sat down, he picked up a bottle of ketchup and accidentally squirted it in his face. He started screaming so I grabbed him and took him to the bathroom, getting ketchup all over myself in the process (forgot to mention that i got covered in bbq sauce the day before in Memphis!). Well our food came (chicken strips for Ryan and grilled cheese for Grant seemed to be the themes of the trip).
Ry and I walked back to the hotel and passed the Dukes of Hazzard museum and the Willy Nelson General Store. We grabbed a few Hershey bars from the gas station and went back to the room. The kids watched Phineus and Ferb and then we went to bed. (I stayed up late reading/finishing the Hunger Games - good book)
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